About Mel Mallinson | Manual of me

Hello, I'm Mel Mallinson I'm a consultant (but I prefer the term strategy explorer) for social value. I co-work with organisations that want to make the world a better and fairer place. This is my manual of me.

How?

Audience and social value insights that help teams drive innovation for the people they serve.

Workshops

Space for teams to learn from each other and think through problems together with bite-sized, fun exercises.

Research

Research - desk research, focus groups, surveys & 1:1s … with an independent eye.

Analysis

Identifying patterns and connecting the dots

Docs & narratives

Theory of Change visuals, audience insights handbooks, messaging guidance and data strategy docs.

Visuals & slide

Pictures that speak more than words for communicating with stakeholders or briefing a graphic designer.

Skills

Programmes to support teams to gather and make sense of insights.

Recent projects I've worked on

Theory of change development

Exploring and communicating the social value of a community arts business.

Data ethics workshops

Supporting data leads from a group of organisations to explore how to make data collection more meaningful and user-friendly

Comms strategy & messaging

Supporting a national youth charity to gather insights for engaging a new audience

Journey Mapping

Analysing interviews to design a visual journey for engaging more impact investors

Sketch of Mel Mallinson standing, In the background are 2 yellow post it notes, 2 pens and sketches of multiple shapes such as a square with an arrow pointing to a single bigger square.

How I work best

I love learning about people’s insights and dreams and exploring challenges and ideas. Then I go into deep work mode to write at my desk. But my moments of clarity come to me most often, when I'm out 'n' about in the great outdoors.

Landscape photograph. Moorland with a tarn and hills in the distance with the sun shining a ray of light through the clouds above.

Before the freelance life ...

I was lucky to study languages. A lovely thing to do, living and working abroad taught me how to connect with people from different cultures. International accounting was the obvious route for me. I started that journey but it didn’t feel like me. So, I opted out and instead trained in marketing and data. I went on to: - work in publishing and then, learning - support sports organisations with marketing and behaviour change campaigns. - lead digital, data & comms functions for 15+ years. Here are some of the projects I've worked on: 1) transforming a publishing social enterprise into an online learning operation 2) establishing a cross-sport coaching community 3) developing the learning and membership platform, ukcoaching.org.

Photograph of Mel Mallinson turning her head around on a long cobbled street with houses with tall chimneys either side.

Values that are important to me

I promise to always put an organisation’s purpose and audience before my own ambitions as a freelancer. (I believe this will approach will lead to sustainable growth for me, too.) My Barrett values report reveals I focus most on:

Listening

I make a conscious effort to hear and consider the opinions of others.

Creativity

Thinking imaginatively and using games to surface new ideas. ·

Integrity

Strong moral standards. Being true to myself and my principles.

Causes I care most about

It's hard to choose because they're all worthy. But here are the UN SDGs I care about the most because I believe these are the catalysts for long-lasting change.

Good health and wellbeing

Sustainable cities and communities

Life on land (biodiversity)

Topics that fascinate me

I'm not far off 50 but I still love to learn. Here's what interests me the most right now. It’s surprising how often these topics inspire insights for my work.

Neuroscience

How the brain gets into the flow and what holds us back.

Behavioural science

Proven techniques we can apply to help people on the journey to something better,

Mimicking nature

How mimicking nature can help us find solutions for restoring our planet

Simplifying life

How we can live and work more simply for a better life.

Books that have inspired me

I’m always adding books to my wishlist. I never get around to reading as many as I’d like but here are the 4 books I've found to be the most enlightening recently.

When I’m not working …

Like many, I’m happiest outdoors. So, I sneak out as often as I can. You’re more likely to find me tending my miss-shaped veg or walking the dog these days than adventuring. Still, I get to paddle board, hike and ride horses on family camping trips.

Photograph of Mel Mallinson's homegrown vegetables laid out on a table. Carrots, green beans, courgettes, fennel, kohl rabi and plums

Things not many people know about me

I’d love to do a course in illustration

I've always been about words. I didn’t even do art as a GCSE. But I dabble now and I’d love to be able to illustrate pictures that speak a thousand words!

I'm vegan ... (mostly)

I switched to a mainly plant-based diet 3 years ago. I stopped drinking alcohol too.

I'm a Mountain Leader

I completed Mountain Leader training in the pouring rain in the Welsh hills because I dreamed of guiding people in the mountains in my favourite country, Slovenia. But then my daughters came along, and my priorities changed! Maybe I’ll rekindle this dream one day.😉

I dance when no-one’s watching

I bought my now teenage daughters a dance App in Lockdown. When they went back to school, I got hooked too. Now I dance every day when everyone’s out!